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Giants-Cardinals NLCS Capsule Preview
A look at the best-of-seven National League Championship Series
between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals:
| San Francisco Giants |
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| vs. |
| St. Louis Cardinals |
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| Giants Postseason Batting |
| Player |
AVG |
G |
AB |
R |
H |
2B |
3B |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
K |
SB |
CS |
OBP |
SLG |
| Benito Santiago |
.238 |
5 |
21 |
1 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
.273 |
.333 |
| Rich Aurilia |
.238 |
5 |
21 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
.273 |
.571 |
| Kenny Lofton |
.350 |
5 |
20 |
5 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
.391 |
.400 |
| Jeff Kent |
.263 |
5 |
19 |
1 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
.364 |
.368 |
| J.T. Snow |
.316 |
5 |
19 |
3 |
6 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
.350 |
.579 |
| Reggie Sanders |
.222 |
5 |
18 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
.333 |
.278 |
| Barry Bonds |
.294 |
5 |
17 |
5 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
.409 |
.824 |
| David Bell |
.188 |
5 |
16 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
.316 |
.188 |
| Russ Ortiz |
.167 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
.167 |
.167 |
| Tom Goodwin |
.000 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
| Jason Schmidt |
.000 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
| Livan Hernandez |
.000 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
| Shawon Dunston |
.000 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
| Team Totals |
.247 |
70 |
166 |
24 |
41 |
9 |
0 |
6 |
24 |
18 |
45 |
1 |
1 |
.321 |
.410 |
| Cardinals Postseason Batting |
| Player |
AVG |
G |
AB |
R |
H |
2B |
3B |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
K |
SB |
CS |
OBP |
SLG |
| Fernando Vina |
.600 |
3 |
15 |
3 |
9 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.625 |
.600 |
| Edgar Renteria |
.250 |
3 |
12 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
.308 |
.250 |
| Tino Martinez |
.000 |
3 |
11 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.154 |
.000 |
| Jim Edmonds |
.273 |
3 |
11 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
.385 |
.545 |
| Albert Pujols |
.300 |
3 |
10 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.462 |
.500 |
| Mike Matheny |
.444 |
3 |
9 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.545 |
.556 |
| J.D. Drew |
.222 |
2 |
9 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
.300 |
.556 |
| Scott Rolen |
.429 |
2 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
.500 |
.857 |
| Eli Marrero |
.000 |
2 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
| Miguel Cairo |
1.000 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1.000 |
1.250 |
| Matt Morris |
.250 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
.250 |
.250 |
| Chuck Finley |
.000 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
| Kerry Robinson |
.500 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.500 |
.500 |
| Team Totals |
.314 |
42 |
105 |
20 |
33 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
19 |
12 |
17 |
2 |
3 |
.392 |
.438 |
| Matchups |
• These teams met in the 1987 NLCS, with the Cardinals winning in
seven games despite a big series by Giants star Jeffrey "One Flap
Down" Leonard.
• Teams split two games at St. Louis in July
before the Cardinals won three of four at Pacific Bell Park a week
later.
• Bonds only played in two of the games because of a sore
hamstring, going 1-for-1 with three walks in the first meeting, and
striking out as a pinch-hitter against Isringhausen to end the game
July 22.
• Bonds is 0-for-11 in his career against Isringhausen.
He hasn't had much success against other Cardinals either, hitting
.154 against Morris and .167 against Williams.
• In late innings,
Bonds will see lots of Kline (2-for-6, 1 homer and 6 walks) and
Fassero (9-for-28, 1 homer, six walks).
• Renteria and Edmonds
were the big hitters in the two series for the Cardinals. Renteria
batted .542 and Edmonds hit .364 with two homers and five RBIs.
• Morris won games in each series and is 3-0 with a 1.16 ERA the past
two seasons against the Giants.
• Schmidt lost both starts
against the Cardinals.
• Rueter pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings
in his only appearance and is 9-3 in his career.
• Lofton is a .386 career hitter against Finley from their days together in the
AL.
• Marrero has a .157 career average against the Giants.
• Rueter is 5-0 in his career at Busch Stadium.
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| San Francisco Giants |
• Came back from a 2-1 deficit against Atlanta to win the
final two games of NL Division Series.
• Bonds hit
three homers in the series, giving him four in 114 career
postseason at-bats, and raising his average to .211. Bonds finally
won a postseason series after losing three with Pittsburgh and two
with San Francisco. He's still looking for his first World Series
appearance.
• Lofton was a sparkplug in the opening round,
hitting .350. He needs to get on base, along with Aurilia and Kent,
to make it more difficult for the Cardinals to pitch around Bonds.
• Aurilia had seven RBIs in opening round and Santiago drove in
five.
• Ortiz won both the opener and the deciding Game 5 at
Atlanta.
• Nen and Rodriguez, one of the best late-game relief
duos in the game, didn't allow a run in the opening round with Nen
getting two saves.
• The Giants surged late to clinch the wild
card on the season's second-to-last day, reaching the playoffs for
the third time in six years.
• The Giants had the best record in
baseball in 2000, but they lost the division series to the New York
Mets. Last season, they finished two games behind eventual World
Series champion Arizona in the NL West, and three games behind St.
Louis in the wild-card race.
• Kent, who bats before Bonds in the
No. 3 slot, manager Dusty Baker and GM Brian Sabean all are in the
final years of their contracts, so this might be the last time this
group.
• Bonds and Kent don't like each other and even got into a
dugout skirmish this year, but even Bonds has lobbied the Giants to
bring back Kent.
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| St. Louis Cardinals |
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• Overcame devastating death of Darryl Kile, injuries to
several other members of the rotation, to reach postseason for
third straight year. Used 14 different starting pitchers and 26
pitchers overall, and benefitted greatly from unlikely emergence of
28-year-old rookie Jason Simontacchi and midseason comeback of Andy
Benes, who nearly retired in April due to arthritic right knee.
• Lost 3B Scott Rolen to a sprained shoulder in the first round and
he's not likely to play at all in the NLCS. Cairo. who went 4-for-4
in opening round, and Marrero will share duties replacing Rolen,
with Pujols moving to third base when Marrero plays. Cardinals will
miss Rolen as much in the field as they do at the plate.
• Swept
defending World Series champion Arizona in first round, winning
games started by Cy Young favorites Randy Johnson and Curt
Schilling.
• Vina hit .600 against the Diamondbacks and Matheny
batted .444.
• Fassero got two wins in relief and Morris
outpitched Johnson in Game 1 win.
• Pujols contended for MVP
after becoming first player in major league history to begin his
career with back-to-back seasons with a .300 average, 30 home runs,
100 runs and 100 RBIs.
• Team hit stride after season-worst
seven-game losing streak from July 31-Aug. 7.
• La Russa's fourth trip to the postseason in seven years in St. Louis, and probably
his best managing job ever.
• Marrero has been the most productive on a day-in, day-out basis, filling a void because of
Drew's season-long battle with tendinitis in his right knee. But Drew has been feeling better lately, homering in three straight
games the final week of regular season.
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| Things To Look For |
• Battling Barry. La Russa might be best suited to figure out
how to deal with Bonds after watching teams try to avoid Mark
McGwire for years. Bonds showed signs of breaking through his
postseason struggles with three homers in the division series. If
Cardinals walk Bonds, Santiago must make them pay.
• Replacing Rolen. Rolen will be missed as much for his stellar
glove as for his big bat in the middle of the Cardinals lineup. But
St. Louis played just fine without him for the first four months of
the season. Cairo came up with the clutch hits in his place against
Arizona.
• Living with Livan. Despite losing 16 games in the regular
season, Baker stuck with Hernandez in the division series. The move
paid off when Hernandez delivered 8 1-3 strong innings to win Game
4. That should come as no surprise. The MVP of the 1997 NLCS and
World Series is 6-0 in his career in the postseason.
• Rotation questions. Woody Williams, who hasn't pitched since
Sept. 20 because of a side injury, says he'll be ready to start in
Game 2. If he can't go, Finley and Benes will move up in the
rotation and Simontacchi will start Game 4.
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